You are currently browsing the category archive for the 'Blogs I Read' category.
Music has always been an inspiration to many, so it’s no surprise when a restaurant named Kumas (in Chicago) decided to create their headbanging line of hamburgers based on famous metal bands. (Metalsucks via Listenerd)
Here’s a sampling:
BLACK SABBATH –Blackening Spice, Chili, Pepper Jack, Red Onion
IRON MAIDEN –Avocado, Cherry Peppers, Pepper Jack, Chipotle Mayo
SLAYER –Pile of fries topped with a ½ lb. Burger, Chili, Cherry Peppers, Andouille, Onions, Jack Cheese, and Anger
LED ZEPPELIN –Pulled Pork, Bacon, Cheddar, Pickles
METALLICA –Buffalo Sauce, Bacon, Bleu Cheese Dressing
JUDAS PRIEST –Bacon, Bleu Cheese Dressing with Apples, Walnuts, and dried cranberries
MOTORHEAD –Goat Cheese, Kalamata Olives, Oregano, Tzatziki, Onion, Tomato
MASTODON –BBQ Sauce, Cheddar, Bacon, Frizzled Onions
MAYHEM –Sliced Jalapenos, Pancetta, Pepper Jack, Gardinera Mayo
PLAGUE BRINGER –Roasted Garlic Mayo, Tortilla Strips, Chicago CO-OP hot sauce, Fresh Garlic, Pepper Jack, Sliced Jalapenos
LAIR OF THE MINOTAUR –Caramelized Onions, Pancetta, Brie, Bourbon Soaked Pears
Mmmmmm….can I get fries with that?
If you’re taking a break and looking for entertainment, please hop over to the voting for Round I of the Masters of Song Fu competition. Vote for the best song submitted by the 3 masters. I’ll let you decide which song is best**.
**if you can’t decide, take my advice and vote for Paul and Storm because they are the ultimate masters of “Song Fu”, IMHO.
For you budding guitar players out there, check out Jack Pribek’s post on harmonic cross-relationships, soloing and stress relief:
“You’ve got to be in to go out and you’ve got to be out to go in”
Protooler did a nice “Preview Review” on Digidesign’s Transfuser. Be sure to read it BEFORE you try the preview!!!
WiretotheEar satisfies those low bass cravings with a great little post about
Finally, things can get a little weird for 3 crazy musicians on the road. (Source -J Coulton) Take a bit of portable technology and some downtime and you end up with this:
Thanks to Coolfer for this tidbit:
In our music industry survey courses we often refer to “Happy Birthday to You” as being copyrighted when speaking about copyright law. Well, guess what? Your teachers could be wrong. According to a paper by Robert Brauneis, the copyright is:
almost certainly no longer under copyright, due to a lack of evidence about who wrote the words; defective copyright notice; and a failure to file a proper renewal application.
Brauneis, Robert, “Copyright and the World’s Most Popular Song” (March 14, 2008). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1111624
Additionally, Robert has a website with evidence pertaining to the “Happy Birthday” song.
Here’s an example of a possible musical source dating back to 1875: A Happy New Year’s Song.
MP3
http://docs.law.gwu.edu/facweb/rbrauneis/happybirthday/scores/A_Happy_New_Year.mp3
PDF Score:
http://docs.law.gwu.edu/facweb/rbrauneis/happybirthday/scores/A_Happy_New_Year.pdf
Excellent work by Mr. Brauneis! I’ll sing at your next birthday!
Now if I can just get all a refund of those royalties and sync license fees I’ve paid over the years…
There’s a new widget in town and it’s above the blogroll on the left. I’ve been checking out ReverbNation.com and finally got something to embed on edublogs.org. I found a few friends there (Lynam, Monte, Jack Pribek and Justin) the rest is a bit random.
If it plays without you activating it, please leave a comment… and I’ll disconnect it.
It seems like everyone is posting scenery pics today; –I’m stuck at work and I’m jealous!
Peace,
-j
Finals start tomorrow and the last possible turn-in date is Tuesday, May 6th at 4 PM.
Don’t risk it! Email is an unreliable choice to turn in final projects. Burn film projects to DVD and make a copy for me. Audio projects can remain on the audio drives in studio A and B. Make copies for yourself if you want it in your portfolio later. If circumstances beyond your control prevent you from making the deadline, go see the department chair and get an OK for an incomplete grade. Then leave me a voice mail or put a note in my mailbox.
In other news, the Branson newspaper is featuring Mr. Pribek in a series of articles. It’s a good read and you can listen to my Pribek CD in my office.
Jack’s blog is here:
For those of you who have Protools, there are two good articles on inexpensive plugins on the Protooler blog. Read “Mixing on a Budget - part I” and “Mixing on a Budget -part II”.
Friday is officially “No Pants Day”; I will not be participating at school and if you’re my student, I urge you not to participate either. (via Listenerd)
Jonathan Coulton has posted a 20 minute Flip video (condensed) of his trip to Seattle and Portland for gigs w/ Paul and Storm. It’s wacky and a fairly entertaining way to waste 20 minutes when you should be studying.
You can read about Marilyn Manson’s sex change on Industrial Addiction (or not).
Metal Martyr hopes you think twice before you get a tattoo (check out the link to badtattoos.com).
Sheplaysmusic lists the Top 10 Bad Girls of Music.
The coolest place in the whole world to intern is still looking for interns. Why doesn’t anyone want to learn a trade anymore?
Finally, juried exams start tomorrow; –if you haven’t already spoken with me about accompanying your jury, then you are too late. It’s not that I can’t do it. It’s better that you learned a lesson about planning ahead.
Peace, folks. Good luck on exams!
-J
Pants with built-in mouse and keyboard? (Vous Pensez)
The inside story of a couple who make great microphones; The Pelosi Family. (NPR)
Missouri considers re-banning concert ticket resales after the November Hannah Montana ticket scalping fiasco. (coolfer)
A new condo’s parking garage threatens the historic echo chambers built beneath Capitol Record’s Tower in L.A. (Jack Pribek’s Blog). If you visit, check out track # 6 on his new album. I love backup singers!
The BBC has just launched an interesting Sound Index of all the top 1000 artists from the web. Guess it beats the Nielsen scans… According to MillionMusic, the new service is “based upon a 6-hourly scan of MySpace, iTunes, Google, Bebo, Last.fm and YouTube.” (Via MillionMusic).
An afternoon panel at the Leadership Music Digital Summit in Nashville concluded that indie artists still need the big labels to achieve big successes. According to MusicRow, when the moderator “asked the panelists to name an artist who has achieved even mid-level success without a record deal, they were stumped.”
GuitarFlame ponders Aerosmith’s Joe Perry’s guitar solos. Add your voice to the mix.
Some of Seth’s smallest posts are the best. Read Better.
WiretotheEar has a great video from mastering engineer Rob Babicz.
Check our Martin Atkin’s video from SXSW; –NSFW ’cause he calls it like he sees it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt9mGOmn74A
He has a brilliant book on touring (which I recommend) and also posted a Youtube video about his 5-pointed Star Inward Crush Touring Strategy.
Finally, Hometracked examines 10 Myths about Normalization (he’s talking about audio, not teenagers!).
I love equipment shootouts; –especially when the underdog makes a great showing. Today’s shootout comes from Audio Geek Zine where Jon has matched a GLS #S-57 against 2 Shure mics and an AT-2020. I thought the S-57 did a fine job and at $30 Bucks a mic, you sure can’t beat the price! More info at Speakerrepair.com.
Wanna give away buttons and stickers at your band’s next gig? WiretotheEar has a great post linking lots of good resources! And they’re not as expensive as I thought… Could be a good cottage industry for some entrepreneurial-minded student…
Ever wish you could play the intro to Stairway to Heaven on a uke? Check out the tab and video at Ukehunt.
Guitarflame.com wants you to put a Floyd Rose on your Telecaster. I think it’d be cool, especially if you’d get rid of that twangy single-coil bridge pickup and put a real high output humbucker on that baby! (–note the sarcasm in my italics!).
Musicthing asks the musical question: “Can you sing Death Metal without losing your voice?”. The endoscopic video examples are a bit disturbing…so beware.
NewMusicStrategies is convinced that you’ll get radio airplay if you write a song with the word “radio” in it. Also check out his post about selling your music online (some good comments on that one, too).
DMMobileStudio has been dealing with plumbing, vendors and inspectors in his last few posts about his studio building adventures. Upcoming duties include air handling and isolation transformers. Hey, I’m excited.
Coolfer reports that Boosey & Hawkes has been sold to a company owned by a Dutch pension fund-owned group called Imagem Music. Imagem owns a few rock and pop catalogs acquired from Universal. Classical musicians everywhere owe a great debt of gratitude to B&H for years of wonderful publishing. RIP, Boosey.
Update- Sarah at B&H says “/…/don’t worry — there’s no need to bury us. Our ownership doesn’t affect our staffing, catalogs, or operations: we’re a privately traded company so it’s totally normal for us to change hands every once in a while. We look forward to many many more years of service in the industry! “ Thanks Sarah, but tell your friends at B&H to be careful; –you can’t trust many of those rock and pop publishers!
UPDATE - I left off the wildest link of all; Cooking Shrimp with Coolio. Mea Culpa! (Warning –some of his language [like his music] is not safe for children or other coworkers)
Blog buddies Pribek and GuitarFlame have bestowed a nice award on this blog:
I’m very humbled and honored by this award; the first ever for my blog! I have a speech saved up from when I submitted an album for Grammy nomination last year, but I didn’t get to use it (until now). First, I must say that without the aid and support of my colleagues, family, friends, students, and family pets. I’d like to thank the Recording Academy, all my music teachers throughout the years, Nika Aldrich at Sweetwater Sound, my Protools teachers throughout the years, my doctoral committee at Auburn, my dog Hunter,…
Seriously, thanks guys! In respect for the tradition, I now nominate 10 fellow bloggers who have helped me in many ways.
1. Guitar Flame
2. Pribek
5. Protooler
6. WiretotheEar
9. DragonLady’s Blog (The wife’s blog; –need I say more?)
10. AudioGeekZine
Enjoy!
(Reliable Drum Cat photo borrowed from www.conservativecat.com)
I’m looking for a word to describe those musicians who will show up and do their best even when they’re deathly ill, tired, or troubled in other ways. Over at GuitarFlame, they’re talking about performers who don’t show up at gigs, rehearsals, etc… and it made me think that I’ve been lucky to have dealt with very few of these types over my years of playing. I’m seriously trying to remember if I EVER missed a gig. Seriously.
Don’t think I’m some kind of superman, but I posted recently about my struggle with the flu. Last night I played a 3 hour rehearsal (from Hell) after working a particularly exhausting 10 hour day(but that’s normal ). I’ve traveled many, many miles and endured incredibly bad venues (including many churches!) and low (or no) pay but if I told someone I would play, then that’s it; –I’m going to play.
OK –mea culpa; a confession. Over my years of accompanying (15+ years at TROY), I now recall that there was one senior recital that I missed because my sister-in-law passed away and we had to go back to Indiana. The player kept the piece on the program and one of my piano-playing students tried to cover for me, but I missed it; I couldn’t make it. I still feel guilty about it because that recitalist was depending on me.
So far this post has only been about ME. I still need to find a word to describe that overwhelming sense of responsibility to the task that a professional musician has. So help me out:
1. What’s the word?
2. What’s your story? Ever made it to a gig under the most adverse conditions? Played even when you felt like you were going to die?
3. Do you need to confess a missed gig? If so, post your gig sin here and I’ll see if I can get it absolved.
4. Do you have a word that adequately describes a musician who thinks nothing of skipping out of an obligation? (Let’s keep it relatively clean, folks; I have impressionable students who read this blog!)
Peace,
J
Folks, if you’ve never seen one of these before, you should try to appreciate the people who are dedicated to keeping the “old school” way of producing music alive. Read Wiretotheear’s post here:
Then visit the owner’s site for more information.
I intended to get this post up earlier. Too many people demanded too many things of me. Tomorrow I may just shave my head and do what I want.
Here’s the news:
Musings on why Starbucks is failing in it’s bid to be a music distributor. (Coolfer)
See the Iso booth construction at DM Mobile Studio.
Protooler shares:
1. Reactions to Digidesign’s “New Thinking”
2. A quick look at all the audio consoles at the Frankfurt musicfair.
3. A video of the SSL Matrix console (I want one!).
4. Videodiary of the Frankfurt music fair (part 2 -wrap-up).
JamLoop unveils its first ever Used Musical Instrument Search Engine! (woohoo!) (harmony central) I did a search for a Kalimba and most of my results were from ebay. (booo!)
Faltering Warner Music Group is paying its CEO $1 million dollars for base pay for 5 MORE YEARS! Warner stock has fallen 68% in the past year (according to Music Row). Why can’t record label execs do their jobs for less pay? (Hypebot).
9 mistakes to avoid when making your next CD (Musicthinktank via New Music Strategies).
From Cnet news; the US House of Representatives is threatening to block financial aid to universities who don’t police P2P music sharing on their networks. (Ad-Supported Music).
Guitar flame echos one of the points I try to make when teaching aspiring music industry students: The Guitar Is Not The Most Important Track in a recording. See there, guys–I keep telling you this…
On Seth Godin’s blog:
1. Watch this video before you buy your next ad. (funny)
2. If you’re remarkable, you shouldn’t bother with a resume. (thoughtful)
PTNewbie shares a tutorial on how to use REASON(software) in Pro Tools.
Finally, KilledbytheVideoStar shares a cool review on the up-and-coming band Vampire Weekend. Hmmm. Ovidiu, it sounds to me like these guys should have read your post before entering the recording studio. Also, if anyone can tell me if they filmed this really slowly and then sped it up, please do. If this is some sort of video plugin, I want to know about it.
Alternate link = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XC2mqcMMGQ
Have a great week!
j
How many record executives does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Why not get the answer from the horse’s mouth?
You can read this funny tidbit via Seth’s Blog.
It’s actually an excerpt from what appears to be a very humorous book by a Mr. Dan Kennedy on Permission Marketing.
I don’t want to mess it up by condensing/paraphrasing it.
It’s the time of year I always dread; the income tax deadline looms ahead. If you’re facing the same deadline I am, I’ve gleaned a few choice tidbits from the web to get you in the mood (after the break). Students, I haven’t left you out; –there are tax tips ahead for you, too!
Sometimes when you glance at your inbox, you don’t really pay much attention to all those ads from vendors trying to get your attention with their product. Such was the case a couple of days ago when I trashed an email offering me special pricing on a new Celemony edition. I use Celemony for pitch, timing and vowel correction on vocal tracks because you can easily sculpt the track and still have the element of believability (unlike some other plugins). Today when I read WiretotheEar’s blog post and watched the video I realized I’d made a huge mistake in deleting that email.
Folks, this is going to revolutionize recording and remixing. Imagine after listening to your track you notice that your B string was kinda out of tune. No problem. You can fix it. What if you’re playing chords? Still no problem.
My mouth drops open here; prior to DNA there has not been a successful way to reach inside a polyphonic track (it’s got a bunch of notes happening at once) and fix things. Heck, now you can even rearrange the music (change the chords, timing and everything).
I can even use stock loops and rearrange them into something totally different. I’ll be a virtual Dr. Frankenstein of audio!
Can you imagine the possibilities of someday being able to reach inside a classic song (Insert your favorite song here) and totally change its feel, key, modality, or even mute the vocal track and replace it with your own! The future is somehow both disturbing and exciting!
Music students; Pribek’s post on improvisation, scales and the Evolving Conversation is a must read. Get your thinking caps on!
Max @dmmobile.com has the flu but still managed to get some new pics up of his new recording studio construction.
From Daily Swarm via Earfarm; Warner Music Group staff is team building by playing weekly RockBand tournaments.
Bands and Managers on Music 2.0; “Where’s the money?” (Hypebot).
Guitarflame.com shares funny tips for writing that blues song. (original source: littlerockjams.com).
Seth Godin’s blog muses on the decline of the hobby store. Is the record store next?
Protooler has the word on the street that SSL may be coming out with an analog board that I can afford (*crosses fingers).
WiretotheEar tells us to go get our FREE subscription to Tape-op Magazine!
Have a good weekend!
I’m on Spring Break, so posting may increase or decline, who knows?
-j
Here’s a new site I just added to my blogroll; www.pribek.net .
Jack Pribek is a songwriter/guitarist w/ 30 years of real experience. He’s just posted an excellent “guitar lesson” and he’s taken the time to do the tab for examples of chromatic patterns and their uses in improvisation (and I hope there will be more lessons like this!).
He has an interesting story that is still being written; –a story of someone who is devoted to music and is realizing his potential in the face of an incredible challenge. Read his “About” section or this post and you’ll see what I mean.
I’m honored to be the guest blogger today at www.guitarflame.com! So stop by and check it out; it’s a cool place to hang out!
Promedia’s blog tells us how to get started with the Elastic Time feature in Pro Tools 7.4.
Protooler announces the new Digidesign update to Pro Tools 7.4 cs3 is now available and lists all the bug fixes.
The Good Musician blog calls it quits; B5 Media is looking for a new blogger to take his place. Goodbye, Arjun, it’s sad to see you go.
From BigBlue Lounge, Tarekith’s guide to the mixdown process.
And here’s a site to teach you the Circle of 4ths/5ths.
From the Womb Boards, Here is What Is - a DVD documentary about Daniel Lanois recording his music in recording studios from Toronto to Morocco. Here’s what his site says about the project: (I’ve already ordered my copy!)
For those of you who might not know, the film is a camera following me around over the course of a year, in and out of recording studios documenting once and for all the way it really happens. We start in Toronto and end in Morocco.
The film will be showing in select cities and the dvd will be available soon.
If you’re not familiar with the Womb Boards’ CAPE Project, here’s some tunes from the latest REVEAL to peak your interest.
Peace-
j
Audiogeekzine.com inspired me to echo his post about Before The Music Dies, one of the greatest documentary reflections on the current state of the music industry. It reveals some of the dirt that goes on behind the scenes that the general public may not realize. The clip below illustrates how the industry can “create” a pop star from someone who has NO MUSICAL TALENT! The Eryikah Badu quotes are priceless, but not necessarily safe for work.
The other movie is a documentary tribute to one of the most amazing recording engineers ever to have walked the planet; Tom Dowd. Not only was he one of the atomic scientists that worked on the Manhattan Project, but he pioneered stereo recording and built one of the first eight-track recording consoles. The synoposis of Tom Dowd and the Language of music reads:
A long-time engineer and producer for Atlantic Record, Tom Dowd was responsible for some of the most important R&B, rock, and jazz records ever made. In his own words, Tom Dowd relates how he went from working on the Manhattan Project, while still high school age, to recording some of the greatest music ever made over the last half of the 20th Century.
This guy produced some of the greatest recordings of all time and I learned so much from just watching him interact with the musicians. His discography reads like the Who’s Who of 20th Century Popular Music. It reminds me just how important it is to get the right team behind the musicians. Tom was the best. He passed away on Oct. 27th, 2002. He was one of the most important pioneers of our industry and we owe a huge debt of gratitude for showing us how recording should be done.
Youtube clip follows the break…
Honk if you love Barry Manilow? No, just “honk” the real thing; -hit the horn and hear Barry crooning “I Write The Songs”.
Just imagine hearing the sweet strains of Snoop Dog’s latest album (Ego Trippin’) the next time your sluggish acceleration irritates the guy driving behind you… Or maybe you’ll hear some “Seek and Destroy” (Metallica) as the blue-haired little old lady passes your worn-out jalopy, leaving you behind in a cloud of dust.
Car horns that play music? Yes, any MP3 is game if you purchase one of these $300 units from Horntones. I can just imagine the RIAA suing drivers to collect royalties every time someone honks with their Amy Winehouse “Rehab” honker… OR load in your favorite movie lines; -the possibilities are endless!
(Thanks Earfarm)
This Youtube video demonstrates how our ears use volume differences between them to create the “effect” of location. (this example works best with headphones, but you can still get the idea…)
Try the other 4 neat ear tricks here: (thanks, Musicthing)
Bloody Red Moon Alert! (An eclipse pic from my house).
Top things to bring with you for a recording gig. (fun list from Matt at AudioGeekZine).
More progress on the studio at Gemini Pines (new pics are up!) (DMMobile Studio).
Earfarm blew my mind with this post about Prokofiev’s Alexandre Nevsky score (earliest music video). This movie sorta helped start the Cold War (from the Russian side); –I need to show it to my classes! (Actually, I own a copy!).
MediaFuturist’s new book is out…go buy Music 2.0!
It was only a matter of time before someone offered a sample library of the Balinese Gamelan orchestra (thanks, Harmony Central).
What on earth are you ever going to do with all those old vinyl records in your closet? Our Digital Music has a suggestion. Analog=Art.
GuitarFlame has suggestions for increasing your blog’s traffic (hey, I should probably go re-read that one!).
Paul and Storm are out to win Jonathan Coulton’s T-Shirt Design Contest. (That’s not how the Godfather of Geek Rock really looks, Paul…)
ProtoolsTraining Blog reminds us how to set up time-saving templates.
Moozek has discovered nifty new ProTools keyboard covers!
That’s about it, folks… Happy Wednesday!
I downloaded a new Remixing program today after reading about it on Jonathan Savage’s blog. I’m a hip dude; I can remix!
Features:
1. It’s free.
2. It has beatmapping. (i.e. tempo stretching without pitch changes.) And it has rudimentary Beat Detection (estimation).
3. Support for MIDI devices (basic MIDI controllers), Serato timecode (for scratch tracking) and Hercules DJ control surfaces.
4. Open Source, so you have a community of developers/tweakers out there to expand the product.
Results:
I started the program and immediately chose the wrong directory for my music files! Luckily, I could change this under preferences…
Adding music was easy; I pulled songs from the desktop to the center media list and could easily select which player I wanted to load the file onto. So far, so good. Hit the play button; –it plays! Tug on the balance slider; –Fatal Error!
Ok…I’ll try again…maybe it will work this time….oops! (CRASH!).
You might have some success with this freeware; I didn’t (I was using my office PC (running Windows XP, sp2).
I hate to give this a bad rating, though…it showed a lot of promise!
Anyone else wanna try it?
Congress passes a higher ed funding bill that requires colleges & universities to deal with the illegal downloading on campuses. (webware via future of music blog).
John Mellencamp demands John McCain stop using his songs for campaign events. (WTOP via future of music blog).
Gerd Leonhard (MediaFuturist Blog) recommends a book predicting what the future holds for the music industry.
Hometracked shares some Vocal EQ Tips.
Protooler shares a link where you can get PDF files to make your own ProTools shortcut stickers.
Guitarflame asks “where do you find your music?”.
Listenerd shares a link to a company that has used pitch to MIDI conversion to create a version of Guitar Hero that is usable with real guitars Plus, it also offers a teaching mode to help you learn new songs. Cool!
Music Row reports that Warner Music Group’s head is under investigation by French authorities for insider trading. Bad, Edgar, Bad!
Musicthing has posted the strangest accordian equipment review ever. (I’ve never seen an accordian do anything like that!).
Seth Godin’s post on deciding what to make could speak to musicians. Rewrite it yourself only with a focus on making music.
Good Musician shares tips on how to get young children interested in playing an instrument.
I’m not originally an Erykah Badu fan, but after seeing her on Before the Music Dies (a great video!!), I had to catch this review of her new music video on Killed by the Video Star’s site. As I watched it, my grins turned to guffaws…she’s probably one of the most intelligent artists out there today! I won’t give away the cool stuff, but it’s a real trip down memory lane in the spirit of RHCP’s Dani California vid.
Pic by Zikinf
Studio trickery uncovered; –film at 11.
After a 24-hr lag in finding or thinking of anything to post, I stumbled upon this goodie:
Hometrack’s Top 10 worst Auto-tune abuses. (see original post for offender list).
http://www.hometracked.com/mp3/hometracked-autotune-abuse.mp3
It’s amazing the number of folks who can’t sing on pitch that go on to become entertainers. Auto-tune keeps ‘em in business. Too bad they sound like mutant replicants from the planet Zeno.
Auto-tune is the Antares plug-in that allows engineers to correct bad singing. In the hands of an amateur, the results can be bad. My old protools trainer, Shawn Simpson was a great vocal tuner and I believe he insisted on editing every syllable manually, even though Auto-Tune was available. I’m still groovin’ on Melodyne (recommended by Shawn) and I try to do things just like my teacher. Imagine that!
Ars technica reports on a Washington D.C. tech. conference where speaker Cary Sherman (RIAA chief) basically said the Internet should remain free (and ISPs shouldn’t regulate downloads).
It’s been a crazy week; can anyone tell? But I found some great things to share!
Indy Mogul - the perfect site for anyone interested in starting out in filmmaking or animation using no-nonsense (and low budget) tricks and tips. These guys are serious; they just got back from Sundance Film Festival and video blogged a bunch of it! They also have video tips for how to do special effects(like ripping the beating heart out of a victim “a la Indiana Jones & Temple of Doom”). I’m sure you can use that soon… (Thanks Audiogeek Zine)
Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) may soon have to police your downloading habits. This is due to increased pressure from content owners to control illegal downloading. If only the RIAA had thought of this sooner… (Thanks, Future of Music Blog). In the meantime, the European Courts say that ISPs don’t have to disclose file sharers (via Hypebot); so if you can’t catch the birds, chop down the tree?
Marc Cohen’s Ad-supported Music Central reacts to the Qtrax fiasco. Good one, Marc!
Andrew Dubber discusses the boundaries of the new music industry (or lack thereof). (New Music Strategies).
Guitar Flame shares a video from what has to be the world’s youngest fingerstyle guitar player. Nice one.
ProMedia reminds us how to use the Xpand! plug-in as a metronome in Pro Tools.
Protooler reviews a free online sound source (did someone say “Free?”) for film, radio and tv sfx.
Wire-to-the-Ear makes me feel 100 years old as he shows y’all how we used to do things.
Didn’t find anything interesting, yet? Then check out my wife’s latest zombie video review…
An Urgent Message from NMPA regarding your rights:
Original source =(http://womb.mixerman.net/showthread.php?t=6404). Also at: http://nmpa.org/aboutnmpa/presidentscorner.asp . Bold and Italic emphasis = mine.
On Monday, January 28, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) begins the hearing that will determine mechanical rates for every songwriter and music publisher in America. It will be the most important rate hearing in the history of the music industry because in addition to setting rates for physical products, rates will be set for the first time ever for digital products such as digital downloads, subscription services and ringtones.
The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) will be representing the interests of songwriters and music publishers and will be fighting vigorously to protect those interests to ensure that musical compositions are compensated fairly.
On the other side of this fight stands the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Digital Music Association (DiMA). Both the RIAA and DiMA have proposed significant reductions in mechanical royalty rates that would be disastrous for songwriters and music publishers. This is literally a fight for the survival of our industry.
To give you an example of what is at stake, the current rate for physical phonorecords is 9.1 cents. The NMPA is proposing an increase to 12.5 cents per song. The RIAA, however, has proposed slashing the rate to approximately 6 cents a song - a cut of more than one-third the current rate!
For permanent digital downloads, NMPA is proposing a rate of 15 cents per track because the costs involved are much less than for physical products. The RIAA has proposed the outrageous rate of approximately
5 - 5.5 cents per track, and DiMA is proposing even less.
If you find that troubling, it gets worse. For interactive streaming services, which some analysts believe will be the future of the music industry, NMPA is proposing a rate of the greater of 12.5% of revenue, 27.5% of content costs, or a micro-penny calculation based on usage. The RIAA actually proposed that songwriters and music publishers should get the equivalent of .58% of revenue. This isn’t a typo - less than 1%. And DiMA is taking the shocking and offensive position that songwriters’ and music publishers’ mechanical rights should be zero, because DiMA does not believe we have any such rights!
The initial hearing will last four weeks, with the three permanent Copyright Royalty Judges hearing arguments Mondays through Thursdays from 9:30 am - 4:30 pm each day. At the conclusion of the initial hearing, there will be more discovery, followed by a rebuttal hearing in May, and a final decision expected on October 2.
The NMPA will be spending millions dollars in this proceeding to protect the interests of songwriters and music publishers against the much larger record labels and digital media companies. And although we face such an enormous fight, we have an incredible advantage - we represent songwriters, without whom the record labels and digital music services could not exist.
Please forward this to anyone who is involved in the songwriting and music publishing industry.
We will be sending out regular updates as the CRB progresses to keep you informed. Through your networks, we hope to reach the vast majority of the industry. If you did not receive this directly, and would like to be added to the master NMPA communications list, please send your contact information to Jamie Marotta at jmarotta@nmpa.org.
As always, we appreciate your support of the NMPA which allows us to wage this fight on your behalf.
David M. Israelite
President & CEO
National Music Publishers’ Association
http://nmpa.org/home/index.asp
Earfarm posted this vocal outtake here of David Lee Roth singing “Running with the Devil” . It’s pretty amusing without the music!
If you liked that, you might also enjoy this outtake here of Smashmouth’s” Days like These”.
Undiscovered footage of Phil Collins recording the drum track for “In the Air Tonight” (flash required)? No it’s a commercial, silly.
I’m not a sports fan, and I really rolled my eyes when I discovered that Chunklet had this country ditty labled as “Worst Song” here; Being an Auburn grad. myself, I’d quickly add that this doesn’t seem to be an officially produced song about Auburn University(at least I sure hope it’s not!!).
Creative loafing has an article about the songwriter who’s started the UGA music business program.
Simon Napier-Bell reflects on the great injustices of the major record labels. (Thanks Media Futurist)
The Listenerd share a cool interactive music video, “Black Mirror” that allows you to mute the multitrack audio (1 = vocals, 2 - drums, 3 - pad, etc…).
Protooler noticed this Strum-Acoustics release: a virtual acoustic guitar plugin with performance-enhancing voicing/strum algorithms to make any hack keyboard player sound just like a real acoustic guitar player.
How much of the mediocre stuff in your life have you let yourself believe is great?
Seth Godin talks about breaking bad habits: (video link).
Wire to the Ear reminds us that it’s better to start tracking softly to avoid the big “D“.(article is tagged Ableton Live, but applies to Pro Tools, too!)
Make it a good day!
-J
I know how annoying it is to surf over to a potentially wonderful site and find that you have to surrender your email address to register to use it. Such is the case for Rode University; the education/marketing effort touted at NAMM by Australia’s #1 microphone maker (thanks Protooler & Harmony Central). Inside you’ll find 25 well-made videos covering every application for 11 Rode microphone models. If you’re just getting into recording, it’s a great place to start.
I live about 2 1/2 hours from the Florida beaches, but that doesn’t mean I don’t see an occasional snowfall; –such is the case right now, ’cause they’re forecasting a few flurries(and ice). The county west of ours is closing ALL roads from 9 pm until 9 am tomorrow.
Old Man Winter hasn’t stopped DM Mobile Studio, but it has slowed him down a bit.
EarFarm showcases visual artist and songwriter Daniel Johnston.
Future of Music speaks on the future of FCC Licensing and new non-commercial FM radio stations (*power to the people*).
Harmony Central finally posted a NAMM Highlights video (Day 1 down, 3 more to go?).
Hypebot shares a great video overview of the Creative Commons Licensing (”is this the future of music licensing?”).
Listenerd shares a clip of a beer bottle orchestra (apparently orchestras drink a lot of beer in Australia).
Ad-supported music affirms that mobile phone music downloads cost too much.
Music Gadgets covers Edirol’s new 4-track 24b/192khz portable recorder from Namm’s Winter Market. This is the big brother to the R-09 that I bought almost a year ago. Handy things!
MusicThing covers Roland’s new Digital Harpsichord and points to a new music gear blog w/ NAMM show coverage…Wire to the Ear.
Guitar Flame laments a teenager’s first cassette tape purchase.
Paul and Storm discover Storm’s uncanny resemblence to Osama bin Laden’s son.
Good Musician posts a clip featuring MacWorld Expo 2008’s p%$$ed-off Randy Newman singing about Caesar, the Spanish Inquisition, Malaria and U.S. politicians.
And finally, Killed by the Video Star features reviews of music videos new and old, including “These boots are made for walking” (original) and the lame sequel.
Hear 2.0 reminds us of the cyclical nature of the music industry. (ad-supported music).
Media futurist predicts a songwriter’s strike due to the failings of the Performing Rights Organizations (PROs). I believe there’s a good chance he’s right about this; –the industry and the courts still haven’t gotten a good handle on a digital world without borders.
A lot of bloggers are pointing to the end of the record labels. I read with interest the post about “Digital is more than just the Internet“ from New Music Strategies. The point is well taken; –the industry was not prepared for the wide open spaces and changing formats/distribution methods. Change takes time and the folks who made a living off the status quo were slow to see the handwriting on the wall. But don’t rule them out yet.
Seth Godin published some new music lessons for the industry to think about. (hypebot, our digital music).
The Digital Rights Management experiment apparently failed, so the labels will have to come up with something new(our digital music). My bet=look out for digital watermarks that track the tracks (Listenerd).
The RIAA is probably not dead. (Mashable via Listenerd). I know my job continues to change incrementally. The same can be said for the industry, even though change can be painfully slow (and those who do not change are condemned to fade away).
Finally, we’re all here for a purpose. Look at Louis’s post and contemplate the future. What changes do you need to make?
For you plugin-heads; a free Vintage meter! (RTAS, VST & Direct X). (thanks to the Womb board). Plus a list of more FREE RTAS plugs!
Happy Sunday!
Pea